Bushnell Way Elementary, Los Angeles CA

Original Research by School Decision on Bushnell Way Elementary

Bushnell Way Elementary is a small, community-based school in Northeast Los Angeles serving kindergarten through fifth grade. The enrollment is modest for an urban school, with about half the grades in the mid-20s and some grades smaller still. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic circumstances of the immediate neighborhood. Available demographic data does not break out the share of English learners or students with IEPs, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those populations if those are relevant to their family's needs.

Academic performance across the school is uneven, with the clearest strength in upper-elementary English language arts. Fifth-grade English proficiency is notably solid, and fourth-grade English also shows above-half proficiency. Third-grade English lags behind, and math proficiency across all tested grades is substantially lower, clustering in the low-to-mid range. Fifth-grade science proficiency sits in the middle band. On the whole, the school's overall academic proficiency index places it below the midpoint among school-based comparisons within Los Angeles County, a signal that the school is serving students with significant learning gaps. English, particularly at the upper grades, appears to be the brighter area; math is the weaker subject across the board. Only one year of testing data is available, so trends cannot yet be assessed.

The neighborhood context of the school sits within Los Angeles's Northeast region, in a zip code where housing values are substantial but rental costs consume nearly half of median household income, indicating tight affordability despite the overall county wealth. The area is part of the vast Los Angeles Unified School District, which has undergone recent significant changes. The district implemented an all-day student cellphone ban district-wide in early 2025, a daily structural change families with school-aged children will navigate. The district also approved a major school facilities bond in 2024, which will fund aging building repairs and upgrades but carries a long-term property tax increase for homeowners. Additionally, the district's Black Student Achievement Plan, which shapes curriculum and staffing at targeted schools, was recently revised and had its funding boosted, so that framework may be present at this school depending on its designation.

For families considering Bushnell Way, the school appears to serve a neighborhood population with limited economic resources and offers a small, contained environment. Strengths in English instruction, especially in upper grades, may support students who engage with that curriculum. The weaker math performance suggests families should expect to supplement instruction or closely monitor progress if numeracy is a priority. The lack of trend data means it is unclear whether current results represent stability or recent change. Prospective families would benefit from visiting the school, speaking with teachers about curriculum and support, and understanding the specific composition of English learners and students with IEPs, since those details are not publicly available in the data.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 48% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 43% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 36% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 44% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 45% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 564%

School 64% · District 47% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Science

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 29% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

This schoolLos Angeles Unified, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.